


The Rat and the Prince

by theartisticfoxx



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Evolution
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Alternate Universe - Human, Ballet, Enemies to Lovers, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Good Friend Tina Chen, Idiots in Love, Inspired by Octopunk Media's Detroit: Evolution Fan Film, M/M, POV Gavin Reed, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed Friendship, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, but nines also lowkey flirts with gavin, they lowkey hate each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28079631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartisticfoxx/pseuds/theartisticfoxx
Summary: Gavin got roped into auditions for the Nutcracker against his will. He hates every second of it, especially when he meets the most stuck-up and annoying prick named Nines.Imagine Gavin's surprise when he's cast as the Rat King, and imagine his annoyance when Nines is cast as the Nutcracker Prince. Despite Nines' irritating personality, something about him keeps drawing Gavin in like a moth to a flame.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 33
Kudos: 37





	1. Les Rideaux se Lèvent

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DomLerrys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DomLerrys/gifts), [janjan_the_ninth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/janjan_the_ninth/gifts).



> "Les Rideaux se Lèvent" - the curtains rise

The last thing that Gavin wanted to do on a Saturday morning was haul his ass out of bed to go with Tina to an audition. Not just any audition, but an audition for the  _ Nutcracker _ . He would have absolutely said no if any of his other friends asked him to go, but Tina was an exception. She said that she didn’t want to be all alone, so Gavin was more than happy to join her and be her entertainment.

What Gavin wasn’t expecting was for Tina to ditch him as soon as they got there. Apparently, flirting with the choreography teacher was more important than he was. He wasn’t too mad about that, but he was a little peeved that he couldn’t leave since he was Tina’s ride.

Gavin had already been planning on sitting on his phone the whole time, but that changes when Tina comes over to him. “Gav!” She grabs his hands and pulls him up. “Get off your ass, I’m making you audition with me.”

“Woah, hey!” Gavin tried to pull his hands away, but Tina had an iron grip on them. For someone so tiny, she was extremely strong. She eventually did drop his hands, but only after they were in a large room with a bunch of other people in it.

“You’ll thank me later.” Tina smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Gavin shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

“T, you drag me out of bed at eight in the morning and expect me to be functional enough to dance? I can’t even dance!” He had to stifle a yawn, further proving his point that he was sleep-deprived as hell. Tina just shrugged and gave him a (not so) gentle, loving punch to his shoulder.

“This’ll be fun!” Tina quieted down when the choreographer started talking. It was the same lady that she had been flirting with, and Gavin learned that her name was Valerie.

Eventually, Valerie broke everyone up into pairs. Tina got paired up with this short blond dude, and Gavin was waiting around for his partner. As if on cue, someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned around, not at all expecting an  _ extremely _ tall man to be standing behind him.

“Let’s just get this over with,” the man mumbled under his breath. Gavin was shocked, to say the least; this guy hadn’t even given him a chance to speak, and he was already acting like an asshole. Well, two could play at that game.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” It was way too early to come up with a good insult, and the man noticed this. He smiled in a somewhat mocking way, looking at Gavin with his piercing blue eyes. They looked so dead inside it was almost scary.

“My name is Nines.” He looked back at Valerie, waiting for her to give instructions again. Nines looked so formal and stiff, which Gavin found both incredibly annoying and weird. He felt like Nines was scrutinizing his every move and judging him for not being prim and proper like he was.

“I’m Gavin. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but then I’d be lying.” Yeah, it was too early for this shit. Nines raised his eyebrows in amusement, a faint smile on his face. He was going to say something else, but Valerie started to give out more instructions.

Valerie put half of the groups in one room and a half in the other, so Gavin was further separated from Tina. It also meant that he was forced to spend time with this prick, unfortunately. He was starting to wish that he had stayed home today…

They had to learn a somewhat complex dance as a part of their audition. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but Gavin had to dance  _ with _ Nines. It was something called a “pas de deux”, and there was a male and a female part. Gavin  _ had _ to dance the female part since he was shorter than Nines (and the fact that Nines glared at him when he tried to learn the guy’s part). This wasn’t going to be fun.

“No, it’s right  _ then _ left.” Nines sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. It ticked Gavin off, especially since he was trying his best to remember the moves. 

“Cut me some slack, man,” Gavin mumbled, correcting his mistake. Nines simply glared at him with those icy blue eyes, and that made Gavin shut up. He knew that if he argued any more, Nines would just keep acting all pissy at him. So, he chose to keep quiet and focus on trying not to mess up again.

When it came time to perform their audition, Nines kept muttering something or other about not messing up. Whether it was directed at himself or Gavin was unknown. Even Gavin was pretty chill about it, which was surprising.

“Chill, dude. Quit talking to yourself.” Gavin rolled his eyes, and Nines gave him a dead stare that made him feel uncomfortable. Nines was good at making him feel that way.

“Maybe you don’t care about how well you perform, but I do.” Nines straightened his posture, getting ready to start their routine. “Don’t mess this up, for both of our sakes.”

Gavin almost wanted to completely fuck this whole thing up just to spite Nines, but he wasn’t that mean. Nines seemed to care about ballet, so Gavin didn’t want to ruin this for him, as much as he didn’t like him. Gavin tried his absolute best to keep up with Nines and remember which step was next, and while he tripped over himself a few times, he thought that it went pretty well. Plus, Nines didn’t have anything snarky to say afterward, so he must have done decently.

They quickly parted ways once their routine was over. Gavin made his way back to Tina, who had finished her audition a while ago. She was chatting with Valerie again, but she excused herself when she saw Gavin.

“How’d it go?” Tina wrapped her arm around his shoulder in a half-hug. She led him out of the building as they talked. “I think mine went okay, but my partner kept stepping on my feet, which hurt.”

“My partner was a prick.” Gavin discreetly pointed over at Nines. He was busy talking to another man, so he didn’t see them. “I think he thinks that he’s better than everyone. I mean, he’s probably right, but he doesn’t have to act like it.”

“ _ Nines _ was your partner? Wow,” Tina remarked, exhaling a laugh. She opened the door for Gavin, and he was more than happy to go home. He missed his cats and he hated human interaction. “He’s, like, a big-shot around here. He takes this shit seriously.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” His words were practically dripping with sarcasm, which made Tina laugh. 

“Thanks for coming with me, Gav.” She smiled, giving his shoulder a gentle punch. “Sorry you had to endure Nines, but at least you had fun?”

“Fun isn’t the way I would describe it, but sure.” Gavin unlocked his car so they could get in. He was eager to get home and just vibe for the rest of the day. “I didn’t totally hate it, though.”

That was the weird thing; even though he had to put up with Nines and his irritating personality, he had to admit that he didn’t despise his interactions with the man. He couldn’t explain why, so he chalked it up to him just being tired. That’s always his excuse for everything, anyway.

Gavin dropped Tina off at her house and waved goodbye before going on his way. Once he got home, he fed the cats and changed into his pyjamas again so he could do nothing except watch TV and pet his cats.

He was pretty excited to see if he made it into the show, even though he didn’t care about it. If he got in with Tina, that would be even better. For them at least, not for everyone else that would have to deal with them and their shit. 

Throughout the next week or so though, Gavin completely forgot about the Nutcracker. It just slipped his mind. That is until he got a call from Tina early in the morning. When he picked it up, he hadn’t expected her to start yelling in his ear.

“Woah, hey, chill.” He rubbed his eyes and yawned, trying to wake up a little bit. “What’re you yelling for?”

“You haven’t seen?” Tina sounded excited, which wasn’t too unusual, but she sounded even more excited than usual. “Check your email!”

With that, she abruptly hung up. Gavin loved Tina, but this was kinda weird, even for her. He opened his email though, and near the top, he saw an email with the subject line ‘Nutcracker Cast List’. He clicked on it, feeling both excited and nervous at the same time.

Tina got cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy, which was pretty cool. He could see now why she was yelling at him over the phone. He glanced down, not expecting to see his name anywhere. So, when he saw that he had been cast as the Rat King, it was an understatement to say that he was shocked. How on earth had he gotten the role when he knew next to nothing about ballet?

That was a question for another day, though. Right now, Gavin had to plug in all the rehearsal dates into his phone and ask Tina about what the fuck he was supposed to do. This was exciting and new, and Gavin was ready to do this.

In all the excitement, he completely failed to realize that Nines had been on that cast list too. His name was right at the top, right next to the Nutcracker Prince. It looked like they would be seeing a lot more of each other.


	2. Le Premier Acte Commence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin goes to his first rehearsal, and of course he gets paired up with Nines again. Well, not "with" Nines exactly, so he gets to watch him practice.   
> The feelings of annoyance that he felt towards Nines feel a little different now, but it's not so noticeable yet. Maybe Nines just seemed like less of an asshole now that he wasn't stressed about performing well for the audition? Or maybe there's something else going on...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Le Premier Acte Commence" - the first act begins

While getting a part in the Nutcracker was exciting, Gavin had no clue what to do; he had never been in a play or musical or anything like that before. He had to ask Tina what he should do to prepare, and she only laughed at him a little bit before explaining the schedule and rehearsals. Apparently he only needed to go to some of them instead of all of them, which was a relief. He felt out of his element, so he was glad that Tina was willing to answer his stupid questions about the ballet.

Somewhere along the line, when Gavin was looking at the dates for rehearsals, he finally noticed that Nines’ name was on there. He was pretty damn annoyed at that, especially since Nines had landed the lead role. That meant that his strive to be absolutely perfect during auditions had been justified, which made Gavin roll his eyes. He wouldn’t let mister “I’m better than you” get him down, though.

When the first rehearsal rolled around, Gavin felt like he was completely unprepared. He had never been to a rehearsal, so he had no idea what to expect. He picked Tina up from her house and drove them both to rehearsal. Tina reassured him that he’d be fine, as long as he didn’t piss Nines off again. They both laughed at that, mostly because they knew that Gavin totally would end up getting under Nines’ skin. It was just in his nature to annoy people to death.

They arrived at the studio, and Gavin really wasn’t surprised that Tina immediately ditched him so she could go talk to Valerie. He wasn’t too disappointed, but now he had no one to talk to. That is, until he saw Nines from across the room. Should he sit here and be bored or go bother Nines and be a general nuisance? Obviously, the latter won out. 

Gavin tapped on Nines’ shoulder, similar to how he did yesterday. Nines tensed up and turned around sharply, nearly smacking his hand away. Once he saw that it was just Gavin he relaxed somewhat, though he still looked mildly annoyed.

“What do you want?” Nines’ voice was monotonous, almost like a robot voice. Combine that with his perfect posture and perfect everything else, Gavin almost believed that he could actually be a robot.

“Nothing, just someone to talk to.” Gavin put his hands in his hoodie pockets, and he couldn’t help but smile when Nines looked even more pissed off. He really did have a talent for annoying people, didn’t he? “And congrats, by the way. For getting the part.” Nines seemed a little surprised that Gavin congratulated him, which was understandable. Sure, Gavin may be an asshole, but he’ll give credit where credit is due.

“Thank you,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “I suppose I should congratulate you as well. The Rat King really suits you, both appearance and personality wise.” Gavin fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Even your compliments are insulting,” Gavin remarked. Nines just smiled, and his smile reminded Gavin of how his cats looked whenever they did something that they knew they shouldn’t do. 

“I never said whether your shared qualities with the Rat King were good or bad.” Nines gave Gavin a pat on the shoulder as he walked away. Gavin watched him as he left, still trying to process that.

Did...did Nines just low-key flirt with him? Or was he literally calling Gavin a rat? God, he was infuriating. Yeah, infuriating…

Gavin didn’t have time to dwell on those thoughts for much longer, though. Valerie called everyone’s attention and gave them their instructions. Gavin and Tina were split again, and Gavin  _ unfortunately _ had to be paired with Nines again. Since Nines was playing the Nutcracker Prince, they had to have a “fight scene” (which was just angry ballet, in Gavin’s opinion). Valerie didn’t have them work on that yet though; instead, they worked on the overall fight scene between the mouse soldiers and the gingerbread soldiers. That was easier for Gavin to remember, since he didn’t have too much to do.

Since Gavin got to sit out for a big chunk of that rehearsal, he took the time to watch Nines. It was totally for educational purposes, since Gavin was a newbie. No underlying reasons at all. It was just interesting to watch someone so invested in ballet perform it. The way that he moved around like he was weightless was so intriguing to Gavin. It was obvious that Nines cared a lot about dancing just from the way he looked while dancing.

Rehearsal seemed to be over way too soon. Valerie dismissed them all after reminding them of their next rehearsal date. Gavin tried to find Nines in the crowd of people, but despite being as tall as a fucking tree, Gavin couldn’t see him anywhere. He didn’t even know  _ why _ he wanted to find him. Probably to annoy him again, in all honesty.

Gavin met up with Tina at his car, and the two of them chatted all throughout the ride to Tina’s house. She kept asking him about Nines, and he gave the same answer every time: “He’s annoying as fuck” or some similar variation. Whenever Gavin happened to ask about Valerie though, that was all Tina talked about for the rest of the ride home. Gavin teased her to no end about her giant crush on the choreographer, and Tina flipped him off in response.

When Gavin returned home, he did his normal routine of feeding the cats and watering his plants. He was tired from rehearsal, so he ended up chilling on the couch with his cats. It seemed like he spent way too much time with his kitties, but he didn’t mind as long as they didn’t claw at him.

He still couldn’t help but think about what Nines had said earlier. Had he meant that in a snarky way, or was he being sincere? Gavin knew that it was the former, but something in his brain was sort of hoping that it was Nines being sincere. He had no idea why though; Gavin got under his skin, and Nines pushed him right back, that was just how they acted towards each other.

It’s whatever, though. He can worry about Nines and his stupidly perfect self later. Right now, he’s gonna enjoy this quiet time with his cats and totally not think about Nines at all.


	3. Un Main Guidage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin's second rehearsal goes smoothly, though the same can't be said for Gavin's ballet skills. Thankfully, Nines is happy to give him a few pointers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Un Main Guidage" - a guiding hand

It was a couple of days before Gavin was called in for another rehearsal. This time, Tina didn’t need to come with him, so the car ride to the studio was a lot quieter than normal. Tina did wish him good luck though, and she lamented about not being able to talk to (rather, flirt with) Valerie. Gavin sent her an eye-rolling emoji, and she sent back a middle finger in response.

Gavin was somewhat excited to come to rehearsal today. Maybe it was because he was actually starting to get the hang of this whole ballet thing? There wasn’t another reason that he could think of for his excitement.

Since Gavin was without Tina, he decided to go over and bother Nines as soon as he crossed the threshold into the studio. Nines was scrolling through his phone, so he didn’t notice Gavin until he was standing right in front of him. “What?” Nines sounded pissed, but that didn’t bother Gavin at all.

“Nothing,” Gavin responded with a shrug. He sat down next to Nines, who instinctively scooted further away from him. “What’cha looking at?”

“Are you always so nosey, Gavin?” Nines shut his phone off and hastily stuffed it into his pocket. Gavin tried to move closer to Nines, just to annoy him a little further, but Nines shot him a glare that clearly said that he did not want to be messed with today.

“I wouldn’t say I’m nosey...more like naturally curious!” He smiled, but Nines’ perpetual half-frown remained on his face.

“Well, the saying goes that curiosity killed the cat. So, maybe the cat should stop being curious.” Nines sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Gavin paused for a second, then he moved away and gave Nines some personal space. He loved getting on people’s nerves, so why did it bother him that Nines was acting like  _ this _ ? Not bother as in piss him off, bother as in it  _ concerned _ him somewhat.

Gavin was going to ask Nines who pissed in his cheerios, but it was at that moment that Valerie called everyone to start rehearsal. Bad timing, but maybe it was a good thing; talking about feelings and shit was definitely not Gavin’s forte. He liked to keep his feelings bottled down deep inside, and he preferred it if everyone else did the same.

Unfortunately for Gavin, today was the day that he and Nines would learn their choreography for the battle scene. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to learn it, but Nines’ bad mood was putting a damper on his mood. He knew that he should’ve been focusing on what Valerie was instructing them to do, but all he could think about was why Nines was acting more uptight and strange than usual.

Because his mind had been wandering during Valerie’s instructions, Gavin kept messing up on some parts of his routine. Nines was obviously getting a little frustrated with him, and since Valerie had left them alone so she could instruct another group, he didn’t have to hold back his annoyance.

“Were you even paying attention?” Nines took a step back, clenching and unclenching his fists every so often. When Gavin shook his head, Nines pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut. 

“Sorry,” Gavin mumbled under his breath. “I’ll get it right this time.” He didn’t know why he didn’t shoot back a witty remark, and Nines seemed to be a little surprised as well. He raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything about it.

“You move right, then go into an assemblé,” Nines reminded him. Gavin must have looked lost, because Nines sighed and moved over to him. “Look, like this.” Nines gracefully demonstrated the move, jumping up and lifting his right leg slightly, then his feet returning to what Nines called the “fifth position”. Gavin didn’t know what that meant, but he did try to recreate what Nines did.

“Like this?” It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was far from it, but Nines seemed to think that it was decent.

“You should keep your hips straight. Twisting them like you are now could end up hurting you.” Nines demonstrated the move again, putting emphasis on how to keep his hips still. Gavin tried again, and Nines’ advice worked somewhat. Of course, he still had some work to do, but that was to be expected.

“Thanks, dude.” Gavin returned back to his starting position, going over Nines’ tips in his head. He was determined to actually do this routine correctly, and he’d keep trying if it was the last thing he’d do. Nines stared at him for a moment, but before Gavin could say anything, Nines had already gone back to his own starting position. After a brief pause, they started up again.

This time it went great. Well, it went great until Gavin tripped over his own two feet. He was prepared to crash into the hard concrete floor, but thankfully Nines caught him...Gavin couldn’t help but notice how strong Nines’ arms were. Just, y’know, in a general observation kind of way.

“Clumsy one, aren’t we?” Nines smiled teasingly as he helped Gavin to his feet. Gavin rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t hide his own smile. He noticed that Nines was acting much differently now; he was more lively and joking instead of quiet and brooding like he was earlier. At least Nines’ sour mood wasn’t going to be an issue anymore.

“Well, at least I didn’t fall on my face!” Gavin gave him a thumbs up, and it was Nines’ turn to roll his eyes.

“And who do you have to thank for that?” Nines slowly returned to his starting position, and Gavin did the same.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Gavin managed to retort before they started practicing again. They were able to properly go through the routine one or two times without many mistakes at all, which was great. They were going to have to work on it a bit to really polish it up for the actual performance, but it looked like it was going good for now. Once Valerie saw them go through it one last time, she finally dismissed them.

Gavin headed out the door after saying goodbye to Valerie and Nines. He was eager to head back home and relax for a little bit before practicing on his own. Maybe it was a little weird to practice again so soon, but Gavin tended to forget things if he didn’t go over them often.

When he got home, all Gavin did was do some tidying up around his place and make sure to water his plants. He may be bad at taking care of himself, but he would never let his cats or his plants die while in his care. He was even able to repot a couple of them that started producing new bulbs, which was always exciting...and he just now realized that getting excited over  _ plants _ made him seem like the most boring person on the planet.

He spent a lot of the evening practicing again and again. He really wanted to nail this down, partially to have it polished for the performance, and partially to kinda impress Nines. After all, this guy was so good at ballet! Gavin seemed like an incompetent partner beside him, so he wanted to try a little harder to be better at this just so that Nines wouldn’t make him look absolutely terrible (and vice versa).

Gavin’s thoughts somehow kept going back to Nines, which was a little odd. For one, he was still a little curious as to why Nines had been acting so strange earlier. He definitely would never ask, since Nines would probably snap him in half for “invading personal space” or whatever, but he still wondered about it. And then Gavin kept thinking about Nines catching him in his strong arms...but in a totally admiring way, as in he wished that he was as strong as Nines. Yep, just admiration from one bro to another. There was nothing else there...

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so fun to write bahaha  
> also i have no idea whether the chapter titles are right, but google translate hasn't failed me yet <3


	4. Sortir de L'ombre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin was extremely excited to go to rehearsal so he could show off to Nines that he actually bothered to memorize their routine. What he didn't expect was for strange feelings to emerge and cause him to have a semi-mental breakdown in the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Sortir de L'ombre" - emerge from the shadows

That admiration that Gavin felt towards Nines didn’t go away over the next two weeks. It didn’t get any stronger either, which was good. Not that admiring someone was a bad thing, though! After all, Gavin admired Tina too, just in a different way than how he admired Nines.

Gavin had a couple more rehearsals to go to, and Nines was at none of them. He didn’t know whether he should feel glad or disappointed; on the one hand, Nines and his pissy attitude weren’t there to bug him. On the other hand, he didn’t have anyone to talk to at rehearsals any more. Since he and Tina were in completely different acts of the ballet, they had no more overlapping rehearsals until dress rehearsal rolled around, so Gavin had to resort to talking to other people.

By other people, he meant that he just talked to Valerie every so often and would text Tina whenever he got the chance. She would tease him and say that he was developing a “showmance” (whatever the hell that was), and in turn he would tease her about her relationship with Valerie. That always shut her up, or make her send a string of angry emojis.

When the next rehearsal rolled around, Gavin felt inexplicably happy to see that it was a rehearsal with just him and Nines. He immediately wondered why he felt that way, but he just chalked it up to being excited to show Nines that he actually did practice their routine. Yeah he was a little more proud about it than he should be, but he was also so ready to show how well he was able to remember the steps and all that. He was going to show that smug bastard just how competent he was.

Gavin arrived a little earlier than he was supposed to, which surprised him a little bit. He was never the most punctual person, but perhaps the strive to show off how fast he could learn gave him an incentive to come early. Nines was already there, not that he was surprised. Of course Nines would be the type to show up early as well. He was talking to Valerie, so Gavin just sat down and scrolled through his phone while he waited.

He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help but start to listen. After all, he had forgotten his headphones at home, so the background noise of them talking eventually became his focus. He could only hear bits and pieces of their conversation though, since they were both talking in low voices.

“He’s already improving,” he managed to hear Nines say. “Trust me, Val…”

“I’m just saying, Nines.” Valerie shook her head slightly, putting her hands on her hips. “If he doesn’t get his act together by dress-”

“I  _ know _ .” Nines sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry. Just- please, Val.”

Gavin stopped listening after that. He wondered who they were talking about. Then again, he shouldn’t be wondering about it too much; their conversation didn’t concern him. At least, he didn’t think so… No, why would they be talking about him? Why would  _ Nines _ be talking about him?

He didn’t have much time to dwell on that, because Valerie finally noticed that Gavin was sitting there. “Good, you’re here!” She stepped away from Nines and gestured Gavin over. “Let’s go ahead and get you two started, alright?” 

Valerie led them past the usual rehearsal space, instead unlocking a smaller room. “Sorry for the change. We’re going over the dinner party scene today, so you two are gonna have to be in here for today.” She checked her phone, mumbling under her breath when she read the time. “I gotta get in there and set up. I’ll check back in a little while, so you two better be practicing.” She left shortly after that, leaving Nines and Gavin alone.

“I do hope that you’ve been practicing.” Nines gave Gavin his signature “I’m done with your shit” stare. Normally it would have pissed Gavin off, but due to his overwhelming confidence in his abilities, it didn’t affect him.

“I have!” Gavin said a little too proudly. “Do you really have no faith in me?”

“Do you want the honest answer, or do you want me to lie to you?” Nines seemed to survey their temporary rehearsal location, looking around like he was scanning it or something. After doing this for a moment, he finally moved to the center of the room. “Are you ready?” He gestured to the spot in front of him somewhat impatiently. Gavin nodded and moved to the spot. Nines turned on the music that accompanied their routine, and they had only a few beats of lead-up before they started.

It was obvious that Nines had been intensely practicing this; he barely stuttered in his movements and kept his perfect posture throughout. He was graceful, elegant, and nimble. He even managed to somehow look powerful, as if he was already embodying the role of the Nutcracker Prince. 

To Nines’ surprise, Gavin was actually able to keep up. Sure, his movements were a little sloppy, and he still hadn’t perfected the assemblé yet, but it was clear that he had put in an effort to learn the routine. Gavin didn’t even try to get into his role yet, but that was something that they would work on later. Nines would also probably drill that into his head later, so he didn’t really worry about it yet.

Once they had finished, Nines stared at Gavin for a moment longer than seemed normal, which made Gavin slightly self-conscious. “Was I really that bad?” He tried to laugh it off, though it sounded forced and pitiful. Nines realized that he was staring, and he quickly shook his head.

“No no, not at all.” Nines crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, though he didn’t look annoyed. “You did pretty well, though you’ll have to do better than that if you wanna impress Valerie. She’s pretty hard on people, so don’t expect her to be easy to please.” He drew closer to Gavin, looking him up and down.

“You just gonna check me out, or do you have some criticism?” Gavin didn’t mean for that to come out as harsh as it did, but Nines didn’t seem to notice. He circled around Gavin, looking at him with those cold blue eyes that almost seemed to look through Gavin’s very soul. He would never get used to those eyes, seriously.

“You keep moving your hips whenever you perform the assemblé. Remember what I said about that last time?” Nines moved behind Gavin and placed his hands on his hips, which made Gavin jump. “Chill. Go through it again, and keep still just like this.” He took a step back from Gavin, but he was still far too close for comfort.

“Just warn a guy next time, jeez,” Gavin grumbled. Nonetheless, he did as Nines asked. He thought that he did pretty good, but apparently Nines didn’t think so, if the dissatisfied noise that he made was any indication.

“You’re still doing it.” Nines admonished him, though it wasn’t mean-spirited. He once again held onto Gavin’s hips, but this time he didn’t let go. “Do it again.”

“Do I have to? What’s a little movement, huh?” Gavin tried to move away, but Nines was stronger than he looked. He wasn’t hurting Gavin though, just keeping him in place. 

“‘A little movement’ could cause you to injure yourself, and nobody wants that.” Nines quickly added, “Plus it looks odd if you twist around, so it needs to be fixed. Just try to do it again, okay?”

Gavin reluctantly tried again after some more grumbling about it. He thought that it would be harder to move since Nines was holding onto him, but it was surprisingly easier than he thought it would be. He even managed to stay still this time, thanks to Nines’ help. As much as he hated to admit it, Nines’ dumb method really did work.

“See? You’re doing better already.” Maybe it was Gavin’s imagination, but did Nines actually  _ smile _ at him? Not like his normal smug smiles either, this was a genuine smile. It made Gavin’s heart skip a beat, and he absolutely  _ hated _ it; he shouldn’t be feeling that way about Nines. He despised the bastard!

“Yeah, sure.” Gavin suddenly felt really hot for some reason. He needed to get out of here right now. “‘Scuse me, I’ll be right back.” He didn’t even wait for Nines to respond, he just high-tailed it out of there. He went to the restroom and locked himself in a stall. Something wasn’t right, and it was probably Nines’ fault.

Gavin pulled out his phone and sent a few frantic texts to Tina, most of them being strings of nonsensical letters and/or emojis. One thought kept going through his head: he could  **not** be feeling this way, not towards  _ Nines _ of all people. He hated Nines, and Nines hated him. That was just how it was! And now everything was off kilter and strange, all because Nines fucking touched Gavin. Was he really that touch-starved, or was he reading into things too much?

He came to the conclusion that he was overthinking this way too hard. Tina never responded or read his messages, so he didn’t get any input from her, so he just assumed that she would have said the same thing. Gavin was calm, now that he realized that he was just being an overdramatic bitch about this. Of course he wasn’t interested in Nines like that, why would he be? He was practically facepalming himself for even thinking that in the first place.

Though, there was a little voice in the back of his head that was trying to tell him otherwise. The other parts of his brain were blocking that voice out though, and the thought didn’t cross Gavin’s mind again. He went back to Nines, apologized for the interruption, and they continued on with rehearsal.

They practiced again and again for what seemed like forever. After a half hour of rehearsing, Valerie came in and observed them go through it one more time. She deemed that they had made progress, making a point to compliment Gavin, and she dismissed them for the day.

“Good work, Gavin.” Nines smiled at him again, though it seemed less genuine than the previous one. Gavin was still not used to Nines acting so friendly towards him, and it almost seemed like he was getting pranked or something. “Of course, you still need to work on it, but you’ll get there eventually. Also, do try to act more rat-like, at least more than normal, to try to get into character.” Ah, there it was. 

“Thanks, I think. You did good too, though I doubt you need me to say that since you already know.” Gavin rolled his eyes, though a smile was working its way onto his features. He could pretend to be pissed all he wanted, but Nines’ insults (or half-insults) never truly bothered him. “See you.”

With that, they parted ways. Nines went to his car, and Gavin went to his own. The drive back was quieter than normal, partially because Tina wasn’t with him, and because Gavin didn’t even turn on any music. He was thinking, which was never a good thing. Something just wasn’t right, and he couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong.

Maybe listening to the little voice in his head would have been a good idea this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i hope that you're all enjoying this! please do leave any feedback / comments about the story, since i'm very insecure about my writing and i would like to know if there's anything i need to change.  
> thank you! :)


	5. Un Visiteur Indésirable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin deals with his feelings for Nines, and he does so very poorly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un Visiteur Indésirable - An Unwanted Visitor

Over the next few days, Gavin tried his best to absolutely nail down his choreography for his and Nines’ routine. Something made him strive to be absolutely perfect, and as much as he tried to deny it, he knew that Nines was the reason. That was another thing that Gavin had noticed these past few days; he could  _ not _ stop thinking about Nines. Of course, he knew it was nothing; he didn’t feel anything but mild contempt for Nines, after all. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

In classic Gavin Reed fashion, he decided to push away all his feelings and keep them bottled up deep inside. He had other things to worry about, like his cats and his work. He had things to do and cats to feed, and worrying about meaningless, trivial feelings towards a guy he disliked wasn’t going to help.

So, he buried himself in his work, both his actual job and rehearsals. He fell into a steady rhythm as dress rehearsal drew closer: practice, practice, and more practice. Throw in some playtime with the cats, and he was all set.

One thing that sort of bothered him, though he would never admit it, was that Nines’ rehearsals didn’t line up with his. He tried to tell himself that it was, yet again, because he just got lonely without someone to talk to. Though that very obviously wasn’t the case, he really didn’t want to face the music and his feelings. Gavin Reed was not the type of guy to get stupid crushes for guys he hated. Gavin couldn’t even tell if he hated Nines any more! His feelings were all fucked up, and he couldn’t tell what was real and what was fake.

Gavin tried to just not think about Nines and his stupid face, which somewhat worked. Though he couldn’t get the image of Nines’ genuine smile out of his head. His dumb brain was actively working against him, and he hated it. He really did not want to accept that he had feelings for someone as irritating and annoying as NInes, so he completely avoided those feelings and wouldn’t touch them with a 60-foot pole.

Rehearsal came and went, nothing too special happened. He was needed less and less at rehearsals anyway since his character dies in the first act. He didn’t mind though, since he got to watch Tina during her rehearsals.

He also got to watch Nines, though that totally wasn’t why he watched the rehearsals at all. He just wanted to be a good, supportive friend and wait around for Tina to be done, that’s all. The fact that Nines was there, looking so elegant and graceful, meant nothing to him. Nines meant nothing to him. At least, that’s what he told himself.

Dress rehearsal was finally here, which Gavin was excited for. Sure, he’d have to wear a weird hat that looked like a rat head, but it was still pretty cool. Tina looked absolutely amazing as well, what with her sequin dress and silver crown. She had excitedly sent him a picture once she had put it on, so he reluctantly did the same. She just sent back a few rat emojis in response, which made Gavin roll his eyes.

When Gavin walked out of the dressing room, he ran face-first into Nines’ chest. He looked up, prepared to tell Nines to watch where he was going or say something passive-aggressive, but words failed him when he saw Nines; he was wearing a nutcracker’s soldier uniform, which made him look stunningly regal. Gavin tried to say something instead of gaping like an idiot, but unfortunately, he couldn’t form any words.

“Watch where you’re going,” Nines eventually said, glaring down at Gavin. Though, his gaze definitely lacked its usual sharpness. Gavin just nodded and stepped out of the way. He couldn’t believe that he basically just went into a gay panic over Nines. He truly was fucked, wasn’t he? After all this time of trying to ignore his feelings and keep his distaste towards Nines, he finally accepted that maybe, just  _ maybe _ , he did have some small feelings towards Nines. But it was nothing more than a school-boy crush, he tried to tell himself.

Once everyone got into positions, dress rehearsal started. The set and costumes were amazing, and everything was going smoothly. The weeks of rehearsal were definitely paying off, but Gavin still couldn’t help but feel unprepared; how could he keep up with everyone else? He definitely didn’t feel as secure as he should feel right now. It was so much different performing the routine with just Nines or Valerie watching him rather than in front of a crowd of people.

It was his time to shine, and Gavin was a nervous wreck. He tried not to let it show, instead letting false confidence take the lead. He saw Nines on stage getting prepared to ‘fight’ him, and he started to feel calmer. This was familiar to him, and if he focused hard enough, he could make himself believe that it was just him and Nines alone like in their rehearsals instead of them being watched by countless eyes.

“You’re doing great,” Nines mumbled to him as they passed each other. Gavin could barely hear it because of how quiet Nines was, but he most definitely heard him say that. It made his heart flutter a little bit, and he mentally cursed himself for reacting that way. Gavin certainly didn’t think that he was doing great, but Nines’ words of encouragement helped him not feel as bad if he messed up.

Gavin finally went off stage after he was done. Tina ran up to him and congratulated him, and she pointed out that he had improved since she last saw him perform. He thanked her, but he was off in his own world. He was watching Nines perform, getting lost in how focused he looked. Nines was truly dedicated to ballet, and it was admirable how refined he was at it. Gavin hated to admit it, but maybe he did look up to Nines a little bit. He would  _ never _ admit that out loud though, so that thought was going to stay inside his head.

Rehearsal was over before he knew it. Valerie thanked everyone for coming, and they were sent off to get changed before they had to get performance notes. Gavin once again ran into Nines while going to the changing room, but at least he didn’t literally run into him this time.

“You were really great out there,” Gavin said, hoping that his compliment didn’t seem  _ too _ genuine. Nines paused for a moment, then he smiled. It was his usual sarcastic smile thankfully, so Gavin wasn’t about to be sent into another gay panic.

“Thank you, Gavin. You were great as well. You’ve improved so much since your first rehearsal, you know? I admire your dedication to perfecting your choreography.” Nines glanced over at Gavin for a moment, his expression unreadable and unfamiliar. Unlike Gavin, Nines had said that very genuinely and with feeling, which he seldom did. Gavin was a little confused, but before he could say anything or even thank Nines, Nines had retreated into the dressing room to change.

A little part of Gavin was hoping that Nines had said those things because Nines had feelings for him, but he knew that that wasn’t possible since Nines hated him.  _ But you hated Nines, and now you like him, _ was a thought that briefly passed through his head, but he pushed it away. Nobody could ever like him. After all, he was an insufferable asshole, and that’s what he’s been told for a good part of his life.

Gavin quickly changed and left with Tina, not wanting to dwell on his fucked up feelings for much longer. After dropping Tina off at her house, he went home and spent the evening doing anything to get his mind off of Nines, ballet, and anything that could remind him of Nines. He needed a break from his brain, and his cats were a good distraction. He spent the evening playing with his cats, watching TV, and catching up on some work. It did work to divert his attention for the night, though he knew that his feelings would catch up to him in the morning. A temporary distraction is better than none, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment / kudos if you enjoyed! :D


	6. Dans la Lumière

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dans la lumière - into the light

Gavin tried really hard not to think about his feelings towards NInes. He really did! But it was hard when he had to spend so much time with Nines. More and more rehearsals were scheduled for the next two weeks, which meant that Gavin was seeing a lot of NInes. He both hated it and secretly loved it at the same time.

He still hadn’t really come to terms that he could have a crush on such an asshole. Nines was rude, haughty, and cold towards most people...but sometimes he’d smile at Gavin, or laugh in this adorable way that made his heart flutter, and Gavin would momentarily forget that he disliked Nines in any way. It was strange that so many things about Nines agitated Gavin, yet so many things also intrigued him. 

This was just a dumb school-yard crush, though. He’d accepted that this wasn't mutual, that Nines didn’t think of him in the same way, and he was fine with that. At least, that’s what he tried to tell himself. That night when he realized that he had feelings for NInes, he laid awake and wondered, just for a brief moment, what it would be like if he and Nines were together. Then he quickly scolded himself for even _entertaining_ the thought. Gavin Reed didn’t do romance, and romance certainly steered clear of him. He was never gonna get the person of his dreams, he was doomed to be a crazy cat man for the rest of his life. He was okay with that, as long as the cats didn’t shit outside the litterbox.

 _“You’re doing great.”_

Those words kept repeating over and over again in his head like a broken record. That, plus the look that Nines had given him after rehearsal, sent Gavin into a gay panic spiral. Was he overthinking things, or was he not looking into them hard enough? Did Nines want something _more_ , or was he just being your average friendly straight guy? Gavin couldn’t tell, though he was leaning more towards Nines just being nice to him. He tried to ignore the emotional pain he felt when he came to that conclusion.

Gavin still had shit to do, and some of that shit was rehearsals. He both dreaded and was excited to go to rehearsals because Nines was there. He dreaded it because he’d have to face the fact that his feelings were real and they weren’t going away, and he was excited because he’d get to see Nines again. It was confusing and stupid, but that was just how feelings were sometimes. He knew that this would all blow over soon...hopefully.

The next dress rehearsal was the same as the first one, though this time hair and makeup were added into the mix. It was strange, having Tina show him how to put on makeup, but he didn’t mind. It was kinda fun, in all honesty. This was just another layer of getting into character.

Nines looked great with makeup on, of course. It wasn’t much, just the standard foundation and blush so that people in the audience could see his face, but it just looked so good on him. Maybe it was the way that his cold blue eyes contrasted with the warm red blush, or maybe it was just the fact that Gavin was extremely gay for Nines. It was probably both, not that he’d ever admit to the second one. Or the first one, for that matter. He was still deep in denial about his feelings, after all.

Rehearsal went smoothly, of course. When it came time for Gavin and Nines to take the stage together, Gavin could have sworn that Nines’ gaze lingered on him for a moment longer than it should have. But that was probably just wishful thinking, because how could someone as perfect and proper as Nines fall for someone like Gavin? It wasn’t feasible.

“Correct your posture,” Nines said to him as they passed each other. Gavin felt a twinge of disappointment at that, because he may have been secretly hoping for more praise. He quickly shut that down, though. It was getting a little ridiculous how proud he was feeling that Nines had off-handedly complimented him once.

Even after rehearsal, Gavin was waiting in anticipation for Nines to come off stage. He told himself that he was just waiting for Tina, but he knew that that wasn’t true. He had to eventually accept that he _may_ have feelings for that tall, insufferable bastard, but today was not going to be the day. That was a problem for Tomorrow Gavin.

Nines opened the door leading off stage, and Gavin could have sworn that Nines smiled a little bit when he saw Gavin. It was wishful thinking, but he was gonna keep imagining that maybe someone like Nines could see something in a guy like him.

“Good job today, Gavin.” Nines gave Gavin a friendly pat on the back, which very nearly made Gavin blush just from the contact alone. He was an absolute mess, wasn’t he? “You seemed a little unfocused today,” Nines continued, staring at Gavin like he was trying to analyze what could have caused him to lose focus. “Is something bothering you?”

“N-no, not at all,” Gavin said, lying through his teeth. He couldn’t exactly tell Nines that what was bothering him were his infuriating feelings towards Nines himself. That definitely wouldn’t go over well. Nines didn’t seem to be satisfied with his answer.

“Are you sure? I know that we don’t get along the greatest at times, but if something’s bothering you, you can tell me about it.” Nines quickly added, “If that doesn’t make you uncomfortable, of course.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m fine.” Gavin’s heart was beating a mile a minute. Nines was actually acting friendly towards him? That shouldn’t be so revolutionary, but when people normally don’t even give you the time of day, any show of friendship is a win in Gavin’s book.

Nines stared at him for a moment before turning around and walking off. Gavin wanted to ask Nines something else, but he knew that Nines would just say no. Plus, he wouldn’t be able to ask anyway! He was so nervous, especially because he already knew the outcome-

“Would you wanna go grab lunch sometime?” Gavin couldn’t stop the question from slipping past his brain-to-mouth filter. He was mortified that he even asked, and Nines stopped in his tracks. “I-I mean, um, I was just askin’. You don’t have to-”

“That sounds wonderful, Gavin.” Nines turned around, a smile on his face. It made Gavin let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. “If you’ll wait here for a moment, I’ll go grab my phone so you can put your number into it. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, totally.” Gavin watched as Nines left to go back to the dressing room, which is where they all kept their phones. He was a mess, trying not to overthink this too much. Nines just agreed to a friendly lunch outing, it wasn’t like he had asked him on a date or anything.

Nines came back, phone in hand and already typing something on it. “Here you go,” he said as he handed his phone to Gavin. “Just put your number in there, and I’ll text you later.”

Gavin nodded, trying not to forget his own phone number as he typed it in. He really was overthinking such a simple thing. He had to keep reminding himself that Nines just wanted to be his friend, nothing more. Same as everyone else. 

“There.” Gavin handed Nines’ phone back to him. “You didn’t have to say yes, y’know. I know I’m not exactly the most friendly guy, hah.”

“Have you met me? Friendly isn’t exactly a word that most people would use to describe me.” When Nines took his phone back, his hand momentarily brushed against Gavin’s. It was just a touch, but it felt like an electric spark. Or maybe that was just static electricity, who knows. “You’re an interesting character, Gavin Reed. As much as we bicker, I do hope that one day we could maybe become friends.”

Before Gavin could respond, Nines had left, retreating to the dressing room. He stood there in the middle of the hallway, processing what the fuck just happened. His poor gay heart couldn’t take this. Nines _wanted_ to be his friend. That shouldn’t mean much to Gavin, but it really did for some reason. He was definitely going to keep thinking about this until the end of time.

It was then that Gavin finally accepted that he was head-over-heels for Nines. Despite how hard he fought himself to restrain his feelings and tell himself that this was going to pass, he just had to accept that somehow this cocky bastard has wormed his way into Gavin’s heart. It was aggravating knowing that he actually had a _crush_ on Nines, but what else could he do?

He drove Tina home as he usually did, and it was very obvious that something had happened. Gavin was smiling, and he never did that. Tina picked up on this and gave him an odd look.

“What’s up with you?” She asked, gesturing towards him. “You look so...happy. It’s kinda weird.”

“I would tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” he joked. She flipped him off, and he would’ve returned the favor, but he kept both his hands on the steering wheel. “It’s just...you won’t judge me, right?”

“Of course not, Gav. You can tell me, and I won’t tell anyone else.” Tina’s tone turned serious now; she knew that Gavin didn’t often open up about things, so she was going to be a good friend and listen to whatever he had to say.

“I have a crush on Nines,” Gavin quickly said, wanting to just get it over with instead of dragging it out. He knew that Tina would laugh at him anyway. He kept his eyes on the road, mostly for safety, but also so he wouldn’t have to see how Tina reacted.

“Okay, but then why do you look so goddamn giddy?” Tina didn’t poke fun at him for his confession, which made him feel a little better.

“I kinda asked him out to lunch.” He looked over at her, seeing that she looked surprised. “Not on a date though,” he quickly clarified. She nodded and smiled.

“Well, that’s great Gav! I’m proud of you for growing a pair and doing something about it,” Tina teased. Gavin rolled his eyes, though the smile on his face showed that he wasn’t upset with her teasing.

“Yeah, yeah. Here’s your stop, get the fuck outta my car, you weirdo.” He came to a stop in Tina’s driveway, then he shooed her out. She collected her things and flipped him off again as she left. Gavin was glad to have a friend like her, one that would listen to him and actually care about him. He didn’t know what he’d do without her.

Gavin left so that he could go home. His cats were probably out of food by now, so he tried to get home quickly. As expected, the cats swarmed him when he stepped in the door. He fed the beasts, then retreated to the couch so he could watch whatever was on TV that night.

A ding sounded on his phone, and he picked it up. There was a message from an unknown number: ‘ **Hello, rat-man.’** Gavin mentally rolled his eyes as he typed back his response, ‘ **hello to you too’**. He saved Nines’ number into his phone, and if he just so happened to name the contact “Dumbass <3”...well, nobody else would know, so it was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a comment / kudos if you enjoyed!! :D


	7. Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's some art that I've drawn for this fic!! <3


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